PUNE: The deaths on the railway tracks in the Pune division was the highest last year since 2015 despite the number of trains operating being low compared to the pre-pandemic times.
The deaths on tracks, according to the Railway authorities' figures, increased by almost 80% in 2021, when compared to 2020 and by almost 54% compared to that in 2019. At present, the number of trains running through and originating from the Pune rail division is around 224 against 337 in 2019.
Track deaths, according to the rail authorities, happen mainly because of trespassing - an offence under the Railways Act.
"Accidents resulting from track trespassing is concerning and we are taking many steps towards controlling it. One has to understand that walking illegally on the tracks is dangerous and people should apply their senses too. Some stretches are prone to these incidents and we are working towards trying to plug the points via barricading or creating obstructions," said Manoj Jhawar, the public relations officer at the Pune division.
Officials said the 64km-stretch between Malavi railway station and Shivajinagar was among the accident-prone areas. "Areas such as Dehu Road, Dapodi, Chinchwad, Pimpri, Akurdi and Talegaon are prone to trespassing. In many places, walls have been constructed to stop people from getting onto the tracks and obstructions have been created with the help of cement sleepers. But many a times, locals tend to either break the walls or remove the sleepers, and monitoring people round-the-clock is difficult. Still, the work on construction of walls and barricading are done after identification of spots," another Railway official said.
Sources said a lot of time and revenue were lost because of this problem.
"A body on a track means that some train has to stop and the necessary process involving the police for its removal needs to be carried out. It costs the railways a lot of time and revenue. There are many slum pockets near the tracks in areas such as Khadki and Dapodi. Constructing a wall to stop the slum-dwellers' entry on to the tracks is technically impossible. In such cases, many campaigns are held from time to time. However, things haven't improved much," the railway official said.
